Just the way you are
by Nene2
Summary: My first shot at a Ranma/Akane fanfic. Please read and review and tell me if i should continue or not


Just the way you are  
  
*~*~*~*~*~*~  
  
Saotome Ranma was outside the school gates waiting for his fiancé Akane to come out from her last class. "That tomboy is so slow, I'm starving can't she hurry up?" he sighed. "Ranma!" he turned thinking it was Akane that had yelled out his name, but a cold chill ran up his spine when he saw a purple haired girl run towards him.  
  
"Wo de ai ren!" Shampoo glomped onto Ranma causing a lot of people to stare at them. "Shampoo what are you doing here?" asked Ranma trying to pry Shampoo off of him. "Shampoo miss ai ren, did ai ren miss Shampoo?" Ranma, struggling against Shampoo's hold was embarrassed by all the attention on him from the other students.  
  
"Shampoo, get off me!" he yelled, but the Amazon warrior only giggled. Ranma lost his footing and fell backwards with Shampoo landing on top of him. "Ai ren!" yelled Shampoo, holding onto Ranma even tighter if that was possible. Suddenly, to Ranma's complete surprise Shampoo pushed herself up and kissed Ranma full on the lips. His eyes widened as Ranma pushed Shampoo off him.  
  
"Shampoo!" just then Ranma stopped. From the corner of his eyes he saw someone looking at them. He turned his head sideways and he almost cringed when he saw who it was. Akane. He expected Akane to bash him up right there and then, but he froze when she didn't so much as budge.  
  
"Akane?" his voice came out as a whisper. Shampoo turned and frowned when she said it was Akane. Ranma couldn't believe his eyes. For a second, it looked like Akane had tears in her eyes. If she wasn't crying, she sure was close to crying. Her bottom lips were trembling and she just stood there staring straight at him.  
  
"What do you want? Can't you see Ranma and Shampoo busy?" teased the purple haired girl. It seemed that Shampoo's teasing snapped Akane back into reality, she blinked and stormed over to Ranma. Her hands clenched into fists and Ranma knew she was going to bash him up but she stopped mid-air, as she dropped her hand. "A.Akane." he sounded so timid, so pathetic.  
  
She stared at Ranma for a second, before anger took over her, "You and I are through!" the fires in her eyes were blazing as she spun around and ran away from Ranma and Shampoo, who had her arms around the black-haired boy's neck. "Wait, Akane!" she ignored his yells and didn't even slow down. "Ai ren.forget her, its you and me," cooed Shampoo, turning her attention back to the young martial artist in her arms.  
  
But he didn't hear any of the Amazon warrior's words Ranma could only remember the look of anger and hurt in Akane's eyes.  
  
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
It was late by the time Ranma reached the Tendo Dojo. After finally escaping from Shampoo, Ranma had looked around for Akane, but hadn't found her anywhere. He guessed that means she must have gone back home. "I'm home," called out Ranma, his voice dull, as he pushed aside the door.  
  
"Hello Ranma," came Kasumi's voice. Everything seemed fine until Kasumi walked out and Ranma saw the sadness on the older girl's face. "Is Akane home?" Ranma asked. "Yeah, she's in the dojo." trailed off Kasumi. ".Is something wrong? Did something happen to Akane?" it was very unusual for Kasumi to be in such a sad mood. It was an immediate sign to Ranma that something wasn't right. Before Kasumi had the chance to answer Soun burst into the room. "RANMA!" Soun raced across the room and grabbed Ranma by the collar of his shirt. "What did you do to my little Akane?! If you hurt her I'm going to break every single bone in your body!" he shouted into the poor boy's face. Stunned, Ranma had no idea how to respond.  
  
"Father, please I'm sure Akane had a very good reason for what she did and I'm certain it's not all Ranma's fault," pleaded Kasumi, pulling her father off Ranma. "Boy, I am so ashamed of you," Genma added, coming in after Soun. "What did Akane do?" asked Ranma, completely lost and ignoring his pop as usual. "You mean you don't know?" Nabiki peered closer to Ranma. "Know what? Could someone tell me what's going on here? yelled a frustrated Ranma.  
  
"When Akane came home, she told us that you two aren't engaged anymore," answered Kasumi. "Not engaged anymore? What does she mean by that?" "It means she broke off the engagement between the two of you," explained Nabiki, trying to simplify her sister's words. Everyone quietened down, waiting for Ranma's reaction. Ranma felt his head spinning as he tried to take in what Nabiki had just said. "She what?!"  
  
*~*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
Akane sat in the dojo, for once she wasn't training. She was just sitting there with her back to the wooden wall, tears pouring out of eyes. She told herself to stop crying, to stop crying over someone like Ranma. 'He's not worth it!' But no matter how much she tried, she couldn't stop the tears escaping her eyes. She didn't know why what she saw between Ranma and Shampoo had affected her so much. It's happened plenty of times, this wasn't the first and she knew it wouldn't be the last either. But when she saw Shampoo on top of Ranma, with her lips touching his, she felt like crying at that moment. She was angry, sure, but she was hurt.  
  
When she got home, alone, everyone had asked her where Ranma was. That was when she gathered up her courage enough to say that she's decided to cancel her engagement with Ranma.  
  
*Flashback*  
  
The door was pushed aside abruptly as Akane entered, without Ranma by her side. "You're home Akane," smiled Kasumi, greeting her sister. Her other sister, Nabiki looked up from the couch, "Where's Ranma?" The mere mention of his name, made her blood boil to the point of bursting.  
  
"I've got an announcement to make about me and Ranma," she called out. Soun had ran out and grabbed her hands. "Have you and Ranma agreed to get married? Oh Akane, I'm so proud of you. Your mother would be so proud!" Soun broke down in tears. Akane had felt so much guilt, because that wasn't what she was about to announce. In fact it was the opposite. "No father, Ranma and I aren't getting married." A dead silence stirred among all in the Tendo Dojo. "I've decided to break off my engagement to Ranma."  
  
*End of Flashback*  
  
Tears continued to escape her eyes and flow down her cheeks. "Ranma you dummy!" she whispered as she wrapped her arms around herself. Her tears slid down her face onto the wooden planks. Akane stood up, wiping away her tears. "Maybe some training will make me feel better," she said to herself. She didn't even notice when someone had stepped through the entrance door of the dojo and was standing in the doorway looking at her. "Akane." she raised her head slightly at the sound of her name. She knew who it was. Ranma.  
  
She had expected to see his face so full of joy and happiness that he would thank her ten times over. But when she turned around to face Ranma she saw his eyes full of sorrow looking down at her. "What do you want?" she spat, turning away. He was silent at first, not knowing quite what to say. Ranma knew from experience that its dangerous, to say the least, to be around Akane when she's mad. "Nabiki.told me what happened," he saw her tense up for a second. "So are you here to thank me?" her voice was cold and nothing like the Akane that Ranma knew. "Thank you?!" "Well aren't you glad that I did it?" she looked up at him.  
  
But she stopped when she say him staring intently at her, not saying a word. "You were crying." he trailed off. He wasn't asking, he was stating a fact. Akane, shocked that Ranma had noticed, quickly looked away wiping away any tearstains on her face. "I was not," she denied, but her voice betrayed her. "Why would I cry, because of you?" "Why did you break off our engagement?" his voice was surprisingly calm to her. "Aren't you happy that I did? Now you don't have any strings attached to me, I'm not your fiancé anymore. You can go with your shampoo or Ukyo now! Isn't that what you always wanted?" she looked straight at him her breathing was uneven, awaiting his response. "Why would you ever think that?" by now, Ranma was beginning to lose his calm. How could Akane be so blind?  
  
"I'm nothing but an uncute, tomboy. Shampoo's a great fighter; I'm not. Ukyo's a great cook, I'm not," she answered, her voice quavering. Ranma just stood staring at her, not knowing how to react or respond. He didn't want to say anything that would insult Akane, but he knew he should say something. Misinterpreting his silence, Akane whispered, "Ranma, I want you to be happy." Ranma was surprised that Akane cared about how he felt and before he knew it, Akane turned and started walking away.  
  
He reached forward and grabbed hold of her hand and turned her around to face him again. "Akane, wait" She didn't dare to look up, because she didn't want Ranma to see the tears that were pouring down her cheeks. "Ranma.please." she begged. "Akane." he started but didn't know how to continue. Ranma wasn't even quite sure what he should say next, but there was this voice that told him to speak. She looked up and found herself unable to break away.  
  
"I.I." the words were caught in his throat. Ranma was no good at expressing his feelings and he had never done anything so hard as what he was about to do. He struggled to not let his fear take over; he struggled to maintain eye contact with Akane. She searched his eyes but couldn't tell what he was thinking. "Akane, I want you back." her eyes widened. Did she hear properly? "I want you.to be my fiancé again, because." finally letting his fear take over, he averted his gaze to the floor.  
  
"Ranma." she wanted to say so much more than just his name, but she couldn't bring herself to express the feelings deep inside her. "Because then I'd be happy," he said quietly, his face flushed. For once, Akane knew Ranma was saying the truth. Maybe it was the way his cheeks reddened or the tone of his voice, but Akane knew Ranma meant what he just said. Shocking both herself and Ranma, Akane lunged forward and wrapped her arms gently around Ranma's waist, letting the side of her head rest against his chest.  
  
"Oh Ranma," she cried into his chest, staining his favourite red shirt. Hesitantly Ranma pulled her closer to him, resting his chin on top of Akane's head. They stayed like that for a moment; just enjoying the comfort of being in each other's arms, despite the embarrassment they both knew they would be faced with if someone were to walk in on them. "Akane." taking one step away from her, Ranma gazed into her eyes. Scared because Ranma had distanced himself from her, Akane remained quiet, waiting for him to continue.  
  
"You're fine just the way you are.will you be my fiancé again?" he asked. A stray tear made its way down her cheek. "Yes," her voice was dry from all her crying, but it was enough for Ranma to hear and that's all that really mattered. He smiled down at her and pulled her forward into his chest again. She wrapped her arms around his neck as he held her tightly by the waist.  
  
A small smile crept up on her face as she murmured into his chest, "Thank you Ranma." There was no place on earth that Ranma would have preferred to be at that very moment. Not beating up Kuno, not at Jusenkyo, not anywhere but here with Akane.  
  
"Thank you for coming back"  
  
************************ Ranma's a pretty hard character to write and this was my first Ranma fic, so I'm not sure how I went. Should I continue this fic or just leave it like that? I kinda like it the way it is, but if people want me to continue it I'll consider it. Please review! 


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